TY - JOUR
T1 - Ambient air quality and exposure assessment study of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries
T2 - A critical review
AU - Omidvarborna, Hamid
AU - Baawain, Mahad
AU - Al-Mamun, Abdullah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/9/15
Y1 - 2018/9/15
N2 - With rapid urbanization and economic growth, many developing countries have faced a greater share of air pollutants in recent years. An increasing number of exposure studies on air pollutants have been reported lately. However, due to lack of strict regulations and monitoring stations among developing countries, such as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, limited air pollution and exposure assessment studies have been conducted in this region. Thus, the objective of this critical review was to identify the major sources of air pollutants in the region with hot and arid/semiarid climate for the main categories contributing to specific pollutants. Finally, a summary of the limitations and knowledge gaps were discussed. Additionally, the current available regulations, emission inventories and source apportionment studies in this region were discussed. In this study, the concentration levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), metal elements, nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were reviewed. Due to lack of scientific studies, various databases and indexed journals from early 2000 (sometimes prior that time) were considered. The review findings clearly indicated that the sand, dust (natural and anthropogenic, such as cement, metal, stone cutting industries), chemical industries (refinery, petrochemical, etc.) and transportation activities were the major contributors to the overall air pollution in the GCC countries. Besides, the study recommended that the difference between anthropogenic pollution and natural events in dust formation should be explored extensively. Furthermore, possible suggestions for future researches in the region were proposed.
AB - With rapid urbanization and economic growth, many developing countries have faced a greater share of air pollutants in recent years. An increasing number of exposure studies on air pollutants have been reported lately. However, due to lack of strict regulations and monitoring stations among developing countries, such as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, limited air pollution and exposure assessment studies have been conducted in this region. Thus, the objective of this critical review was to identify the major sources of air pollutants in the region with hot and arid/semiarid climate for the main categories contributing to specific pollutants. Finally, a summary of the limitations and knowledge gaps were discussed. Additionally, the current available regulations, emission inventories and source apportionment studies in this region were discussed. In this study, the concentration levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), metal elements, nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were reviewed. Due to lack of scientific studies, various databases and indexed journals from early 2000 (sometimes prior that time) were considered. The review findings clearly indicated that the sand, dust (natural and anthropogenic, such as cement, metal, stone cutting industries), chemical industries (refinery, petrochemical, etc.) and transportation activities were the major contributors to the overall air pollution in the GCC countries. Besides, the study recommended that the difference between anthropogenic pollution and natural events in dust formation should be explored extensively. Furthermore, possible suggestions for future researches in the region were proposed.
KW - Air pollutants
KW - Air quality
KW - Climate change
KW - Exposure assessment
KW - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
KW - Source apportionment
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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.296
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.296
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29709861
AN - SCOPUS:85046077785
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 636
SP - 437
EP - 448
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
ER -